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Alpine Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso has undergone surgery for a broken jaw following his road accident while cycling in Switzerland.
Alonso was riding near Lugano when he was involved in a collision with a car and taken to a local hospital.
His Alpine team said he was “conscious and well in himself” on Thursday evening, before being transferred to a facility in Bern for surgery to correct a “fracture in his upper jaw” on Friday morning.
He will remain under observation in hospital for 48 hours and have “a few days of complete rest” before “progressively” resuming training.
Alpine says “we expect him to be fully operational to undertake preparation for the season”.
A report from the Ticino division of the Swiss police, which has jurisdiction over where the incident occurred said Alonso’s bicycle collided with a car driven by a 42-year-old who was driving into a supermarket car park.
“Just before 2pm in Viganello, a 42-year-old Swiss motorist domiciled in the Lugano area was driving in via La Santa in the direction of Pregassona,” said the report.
“According to an initial reconstruction and for reasons that the police investigation will have to establish, while making a left turn manoeuvre to enter a supermarket parking lot, there was a collision with a 39-year-old Spanish citizen, who was riding his bicycle. He was passing the column of stationary vehicles in the opposite direction on the right.
“The collision occurred against the right side of the car.
“On the spot intervened agents of the cantonal police and, in support, of the police of the city of Lugano as well as the rescuers of the Green Cross of Lugano who after having given the first attention to the cyclist transported him by ambulance to the Hospital. The 39-year-old suffered a fractured jaw.”
Thanks for all your wishes, I’m ok and looking forward to getting 2021 underway.💪💪💪💪
Let’s gooooooooooooooo— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) February 12, 2021
Two-time F1 world champion Alonso is preparing to return to grand prix racing after two seasons away.
Alpine’s statement suggests it currently does not see any threat to Alonso’s participation in pre-season testing (March 12-14) or the season opener (March 26-28), both in Bahrain.
Alonso has won the Le Mans 24 Hours for a second time, been crowned World Endurance champion as well as contesting the Dakar Rally and Indianapolis 500 since he last raced in F1.
He said last year he was in the best physical condition of his career, and his preparation included a filming day and full-day test in the 2020 Renault plus several days in a 2018 car.
However, taking part in the three-day pre-season test will be invaluable to Alonso, as while he has worked hard to offset his time on the sidelines starting the year behind on 2021 mileage would be an unfortunate disadvantage.
In the event Alonso cannot participate in testing next month, to ease the burden on his Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon, Alpine could draft in one of its juniors.
Its Formula 2 drivers Christian Lundgaard, Guanyu Zhou and Oscar Piastri all gained F1 experience with the team last year, with Zhou joining Alonso in the post-season Abu Dhabi test in the 2020 Renault.
Alternatively, it may employ a substitute like 2020 Racing Point stand-in Nico Hulkenberg, or Renault’s 2019/20 reserve driver Sergey Sirotkin (pictured below) – who raced for Williams in 2018.
Running an experienced stand-in during testing would be more likely if there is a chance of Alonso missing the start of the season, as this would allow them to be prepared for a possible stand-in appearance.
However it is important to stress at this stage that Alpine is not anticipating this to be necessary.
